In a surprising move, Michigan based adoption and foster agency, Bethany Christian Services, will now open up its services to parents who are LGBTQ. In my opinion, this is long overdue.

I'm going to speak from my personal experience in my past for just a moment here. I, at one point in my childhood, attended a church that generally preached against homosexuality (something that makes me cringe to this day). They said it was a sin, that it was wrong, that children raised in that environment would never be stable. But, when you look at the statistics, that's just not true.

In an article published by American Psychological Association, they stated that research showed that children adopted by same sex couples grew up to be just as well adjusted by those adopted by heterosexual couples. On another note, lifelongadoptions.com listed a statistic suggesting that same sex couples adopt more than heterosexual couples. And yet, many religious based adoption agencies still seem to turn LGBTQ families away.

Which is why this headline just made me go, "Yes!".

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Bethany Christian Services opens adoptions to LGBTQ parents under inclusivity policy

As reported by Wood TV News Channel 8, this new, inclusive policy will be applied nationwide. In Michigan, Bethany Christian Services had already been adopting to LGBTQ families since 2019.

This change in policy may seem out of the blue to you and me, but was actually set in motion in 2012. That's when a lawsuit filed by April DeBoer and Jane Rowse, who were trying to jointly adopt a child, challenged Michigan's ban on adoption by same-sex couples. Later that year their lawsuit was amended to challenge the ban on same-sex marriage. That led to an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court which resulted in the overturning of the ban on same-sex marriage. You can read more here. It's incredible.

DeBoer was interviewed by Wood TV and said, "It’s going to open up a  world for kids who normally wouldn’t have a home, so it’s just fantastic."

As well, in a statement to News Channel 8, Bethany President and CEO Chris Palusky said, in part,

These days, families look a lot different than they did when we started. And Bethany is committed to welcoming and serving all of them.

And that is the point, isn't it? To help children.

Personally, I hope that Bethany Christian Services, which is one of the largest adoption agencies in the country, will set a precedent for other religious based adoption agencies to reconsider their stance on banning couples who are LGBTQ.

You can find more information about Bethany Christian Services here.

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